Carrion Crown

Reviving Leah

20

JUL/12

While Leah and Fedifensor covered the rear against the Black Pudding, Garren rushed forward against the gruesome beast. Arland moved up to help his brother fight the creature by taking him to the ground with a trip attack. Takehiko gathered his senses and rushed forward to circle the beast.

Fedifensor and Leah finished first and turned around to help the others. Takehiko with a quick flash of his blade cut deep into the beasts skull. The beast finally collapsed; his head splitting open as the ninja wrenched his blade free.

“Check out that trapdoor,” Takehiko points to a door on the ceiling as he wipes his blade clean. “That’s adamantine, we could get 3k gold for that.”

The party stood in the broken entrance to the bottom floor of the small tower. Stairs to the left led upwards. After searching the room and taking time to heal after the battle, they ascended to the second floor.

The second floor was filled with a mechanical contraption. A wall had a diagram of instructions to generate power for the machine with lightening. An illegible journal was discovered on one a table. The party decided to continue moving up the next set of stairs to the third floor.

The third floor contained a large glass container filled with a clear liquid. Inside was a dead woman. Next to the glass container was an iron maiden. Two eye holes in the maiden revealed a pair of blinking eyes that looked at the party with terror. Stairs circled up to another floor. Another beast resting on the ceiling watched as the party came into the room. It dropped down and attacked Fedifensor.

Takehiko was the first to react. He was hit by the creature when trying to flee and was helpless as his body became paralyzed. Arland took a step back and attacked the creature losing a whip as the beast grabbed the weapon and slung it to the other side of the room. Other members left the room. Fedifensor stood in defense until the party was able to retreat safely. Arland picked up Takehiko and carried him out of the room. With the party out of the room, Fedifensor followed the party back to the second floor.

On the second floor Garren and Takehiko looked through the diagram and machine to determine the purpose of the contraption. From the diagram, they were able to determine another machine was placed on the top of the tower. One device called a storm, the other would command the beast. The party decided they must get to the roof and would have to scale the outside of the tower to do so.

Arland climbed out the window and started moving up. He took a glance inside the third floor window as he passed. The beast was circling upset he missed his chance for a quick meal. Arland pondered a moment about trying to make a grab for his whip, but decided against it and continued to the roof. At the top, he tied a knotted rope and dropped it for the others to climb up; Fedifensor remained below.

Takehiko started using the machine to call the beast but Garren pushed him out of the way, “You’re going to break the damn thing. Let me do this.”

Lightning flashed and hit a party member. Noise came through a trapdoor on the roof. Arland moved on top of it to try to keep it closed. Not a good idea. The trapdoor flung open and Arland successfully landed on his feet as the third floor creature moved his way up to the roof. Another lightning flashed and struck another party member. Garren stayed on the device to control the beast.

As the party tried to hold their own against the beast on the roof, Fedifensor ran up to the third floor and worked to free the man locked inside the maiden.

The beast of Lepinstadt finally showed up as the party was barely staying alive against the third floor creature. Fedifensor finally pulled the man out of the maiden. The two beasts wailed on each other while the party tried to give aid and dodge lightning bolts.

Leah collapsed from one of the bolts and stopped breathing. After a few more moments, the Lepinstadt beast released a torrent of blows that killed the other and the remaining party (that was conscious) watched as the third floor beast fell from the roof.

The man, freed from his prison, wept and pleaded with the party to not turn him in. He gave a sob story and promised that he had learned his lesson. He blamed the Whispering Way for the events of Lepinstadt and offered to pay the party for their silence. The party contemplated it but the discouraging look from Fedifensor straightened them out.

The party attempted to heal Leah who was barely conscious but ended up doing more damage to her. Arland picked her up and decided to carry her to town. Takehiko and Garren grabbed the adamantine trap door before leaving for the town.

In town, Arland headed to the church of Calistria afraid that Leah’s condition might discourage help from the temple of Pharasma. The clergy of the Sacred Sting welcomed Arland and asked what was wrong. After explaining the situation and verifying that he was a follower they took Leah to the inner sanctum where the high priest could help.

Arland explained again Leah’s condition and asked if there was anything that could be done for her. The high priest was pleased to assist believing that he and Leah were intimate. The priest revived Leah and mentioned that they could now be together. Arland, pleased with the help received, offered for the high priest to have first dibs on Leah. Leah protested to the advancements and mentioned she was not interested. The high priest without skipping a beat understood and said the church could fill those desires too. He called forth a female member and Leah’s eyes sparked up as a beautiful woman entered the room.

“Can you give us some privacy?” Leah apprehensively asked of the woman. The lady turned to walk out and Leah sent eye daggers at Arland who couldn’t stop smiling.

“Hey, you needed help and this is the only place I could think of.” Arland said defensively. “The others wanted to send you to the temple of Pharasma, but I think that would have been a mistake.”